Does homeschooler need to keep abreast with local curriculum?

Feb 2010
A lot of times, there are questions on homeschooling which I have the opportunity to express my views on it. I think it would be useful to present it here and keep it as a record of sort.

A mother recently asked,
Q : Should we as homeschoolers also keep abreast with the local curriculum, even if we are not following it. Just think if one day you have to come out and work (for some unforeseen circumstances) and have no choice but to send your children to the local school, you will not be totally out of touch with what's happening around in the local education scene

A: Homeschooling is homeschooling. Within homeschoolers, there are so many different variants and style of homeschooling. There are a lot of freedom, but at the same time, there are a lot customization involve. Every kid is different. It can be said that the method of homeschooling is unique to the family. So in my humble opinion if one thinks that keeping abreast with local curriculum and one is comfortable with it, go ahead and use the local curriculum as your homeschooling syllabus.
Personally, I do not feel the need to follow or keep abreast of the local curriculum in a big way. Fundamentally, homeschooling children, at the end of the day, will also have a good mind if not better. And should something happen to me, and for whatever reason they need to go into malaysian school system, they will be able to catch-up with some hardwork maybe, but they will. I believe so.